My People Powered Platform

by Jovanka Beckles7scon August 02, 2017

A people powered campaign

Thank you for visiting to learn more about some of the issues I fight for. I want to hear from you. If you have questions, ideas or concerns, please come to a house party to meet me and discuss the issues we all face.

Corporate money has saturated our politics, and it prevents Sacramento from providing the kind of state government that we need. Multi-billion dollar corporations are not buying elections to provide more revenue for schools, to protect tenants or stop the damage to our environment. They do it to get tax breaks and deregulate themselves, at our expense.

I am running for the California State Assembly as a corporate money free candidate because I believe in being beholden only to you – the voters; not the corporations.

By working together to organize people power, we can elect a government that truly represents us, not just the interests of corporate lobbyists. I’ve been a part of a successful local movement to transform our city government from a “business as usual” model to one that serves everyone.

Cities should have the ability to protect their residents from predatory real estate speculators. Before the Costa-Hawkins Act of 1995, rent control cities had stable rental markets. But the spikes in prices started as the Costa-Hawkins and Ellis Acts made it impossible for local governments to keep strong rent control in place. We must reform or repeal Costa-Hawkins so local governments are free to make their own choices about rent control.

With people power, we can create a single-payer health insurance system.

We need to simplify and guarantee healthcare coverage to make our communities thrive. No one should go to the hospital and have their first thought be, “How will I pay for this?” Faced with this daunting question, many individuals forego healthcare altogether. Thousands of other Californians are stuck in jobs, facing bankruptcy and getting sicker because our current healthcare system puts profit before people.

With people power, we can fix this broken tax code.

Working people continue to subsidize huge corporations, often unwittingly. For example, the Chevron Corporation alone is saving over $100 million a year because of Proposition 13. This results in working families being required to pay more to fund schools, roads and basic services, so commercial property owners can get a tax break.

By excluding commercial properties the state would recuperate over $8 billion per year, most going to local authorities like schools. We must reform this broken tax code so the extremely wealthy and their corporations pay their fair share in taxes.

With people power, we can have a resilient, localized economy.

Our communities are vulnerable as long as they are heavily dependent on an increasingly deregulated Wall Street. We can diversify our economy, create living wage jobs and receive improved services by:

Developing community land trusts

Encouraging and supporting employee-owned businesses

Opening public banks and creating public banking institutions

Regulating the internet as a utility

We must also ensure that everyone benefits from automation so working families do not fall victim to job losses.

With people power, we will have justice.

In Richmond, we organized people power to kick out a corrupt government and create a more vibrant community. We banned the box, directed our police department to become a national model in community policing, raised the minimum wage and became the first new rent control city in a generation. I’ve seen first hand that when government works for the people, not corporations, we all do better.

It is time to organize a regional political revolution that brings together thousands of our neighbors to transform our democracy. We are building a movement that will make it possible for all of California to live in thriving, diverse and accessible communities.